"No; I have only spoken to him of my intention to visit Villica."
"Then you will have to explain our sojourn there to him?"
"I shall do so; for the rest, I have directed the superintendent of the estate to place himself at your disposal until I come myself. You have only to give your orders; they will be obeyed."
The princess would fain have expressed her thanks, but the words died on her lips. She well knew that this generosity was not for her sake, and the peculiarly cold manner in which it was tendered compelled her to accept it just as coldly, if she would not humiliate herself.
"We shall certainly expect you. As for Leo--"
"Leo is still sulking over our quarrel of day before yesterday. On my arrival, he went down to the strand to avoid meeting me."
The mother frowned. Leo had received an especial command to meet his brother kindly, and this defiance came at a most inopportune moment.
"Leo is often hasty and indiscreet; I will see that he asks your pardon."
"O, no; don't give yourself that trouble," said Waldemar, indifferently; "we will arrange matters ourselves."
They re-entered the drawing-room, where Wanda had been amusing herself by throwing Doctor Fabian from one embarrassment into another. The princess now came to his relief: she wished to speak with him privately about her son's course of study, and begged him to accompany her into the next room.